c J OINN 87

No. 87: April 1983

Conference . Held • In March 1, 1983

Dear Friends,

Beirut probably ranks near the bottom of most peoples' list of desirable places to visit these days, given the turmoil and trauma that it has gone through- over the past eight years, While the city still has a long way to go before once again becoming a worthy rival of Palm Springs or Monte Carlo, however, it is encouraging to be able to report that there are some signs of stabilization, This became clear as I attended a conference on "Land Tenure and Social Transformation in the Near East" held from February 14 to 18 at the American University of Beirut.

Perhaps the most surprising impression that came from at· tending the conference was the calm that prevailed in Beirut itself. The area from the airport south of the city to the northern suburbs is now under the control of the Lebanese army, backed by the joint ltalian·French·American -peace· keeping forces ; the various militias have been disarmed and disbanded in these areas, and it is possible to walk the streets by day or night with no concern for one's safety. Most Beirutis seem to be pessimistic about the political future of Lebanon as a whole , but are profoundly relieved that the fighting is over, at least for them, and that they can once again lead nonnal lives. The talk of an eventual solution involving a "Greater Beirut" as a kind of independent city·state separate from other parts of Lebanon··which may remain under the control of the Phalange, of Syria, and of Israel or her proxy,

The Coastal Hotel District (ca. 1970)

ews& otes

d Q;l; 'l'OB -'S LIlJRi..,t ~ I

Apartment Damaged by Israeli Bombardment (Feb., 1983).

Some other areas of town, however, were mU(;h more heavily damaged than Ras Beirut , and the restored

Harran the Near East • In Harran lies high in the arc of the Fertile Crescent in the

center of the broad, flat Jullab plain in southeastern Turkey. The plain is flanked by mountains on three sides and is ex-tremely fertile . The ancient fertility of this area is well attested by the large number of high mounds (or tells) that dot the countrysid e every mile or so and which represent the remains of ancient civilizations long since passed from history . The flat plain is dissected by the dry river bed of the lullab River. Although today the river is only seasonal, in antiquity it must have been more than adequate to supply the numerous villages and cities distributed along its banks. The water of the river is now drawn off for use by the modern inhabitants living up-stream at the city of Urfa (classical Edessa) .

Present day Harran is a small village located entirely within the lines of the ancient ramparts . The villagers are primarily Arabic speakers and they live in traditional high domed or

Harran in its Near Eastern Context

Contin ued from page 2

which scholars speciali zing in different periods were repeatedly able to find illuminating continuities and parallels in one an-other's material. These ran the gamut from continuities in actual land tenure institutions and common concern for such pervasive social factors as the large-scale presence of pastoral-iSIS, to the technical terms for cultivation methods , some of which appear to have survived from the ea rliest historical periods right down to the twentieth century.

In sum , the conference was marked not on ly by the gen-eral excellence of its papers, but by the rich interchange that took place in the discussions fo llowing each paper--not to men-tion over lunch, dinner , and often into the sma ll hours of the night. Those interested in seeing the papers in fuller form will be pleased to learn that the conference proceedings will be published by A.U .B. during the coming year.

Any visit to Beirut these days is bound to leave one with mixed feelings of relief, hope , and regret. Which of these will turn out in the long run to have been the most justified , only time will tell.

Sincerely , Fred M. Donner

3

Beehive House Compound in Harran

" beehive" house co mpounds. This architecture is quite common in northern Syria (the Syrian border is only about 20 miles south of the site). The villagers cultivate the sur-rounding plain and also raise sheep and goats. There are few trees in the plain and the main source of fuel for heating and cooking comes from dung "cakes" which are prepared and stacked outside the houses like firewood.

The most prominent ruins visible today are located at the southeastern corner of the site, where the impressive remains of a medieval Islamic fortress are partially preserved. The date of the foundation of the fortress is not known , but the construction date of the visible remains is generally put at the II th century A.D. At one point the castle was surrounded by a moat. There is also evidence of rebuilding by the Crusaders who captured the city in A.D. 1098 and held it until 1146.

A clue to the importance and function of Harran in the economic life of the ancient world can be found in the name of the city itself. Harran means "journey or caravan ," and its location at the crossroads of some of the most important ancient trade routes explains the frequent references to the city in sources that date from the third millennium to the first millennium B.C. The importance of the city as an econ-omic power is underscored by the earliest reference (late 3rd millennium) to Harran in the recently discovered archives of Ebla in northern Syria . One of the Ebla tablets refers to the " merchant" (ba-da-lum) from Harran and reco rds the import of textiles from Harran. The association of Harran with the trading of textiles continued down even into the prophet Ezekiel's day (593-573 B.C.). Ezek iel, in his lament for the city of Tyre (Ez. 27: 23-24) proclaims

Harran , Canneh , Eden, the traders of Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad traded with you . These traded with you in choice garments, in clothes of blue and embroidered work, and in carpets of colored stuff, bound with cords and made secure ; in these they traded with you .

Harran's locat ion at the point where ancient Mesopotamia , Syria , and Anatolia met assured its importance as a caravan city , and there is little doubt that it performed a major role in the commercial transactions of the day. The main trade route from Syria to Mesopotamia passed through Aleppo, forded the Euphrates river at Carchemish , and because of the moun-tainous topography of that area , continued eastward to Har-ran . At Harran the road split. The northernmost route cut across the northern reaches of the Khabur River and eventually led to the Tigris River and the heartland of Assyria . The southern route took a more southeasterly direction and fol-lowed the Euphrates River , passed Mari , and eventually reached Babylonia . Th e road from Assyria and Babylonia to Anatolia followed the same routes through Harran .

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Clearly the si te was in a strat eg ic location for the conduct of commerce and warfare between the major ancient civiliz-ations. This can even be illustrated by looking at Harran 's later "classical" history. The classical name of th e site was Carrhae. During the Roma n period, the c ity was co nstantly fought over by the Romans from th e west and th e Parthians from the east. It was at Harran that Crassus was so undly defea ted by the Parthian armies in 53 B.C. , and the area later became the scene of major struggles between the Byza n-tin e empire and the Sassanians.

Medieval Islamic Fortress on the Site of Harran

Despite the numerous textual references to Harran , the ancient site is almost unknown archaeo logically. Harran con-sists of a high mound (about 20 m. high) located in the center of what was once a lower city. The limits of the lower city are presently marked by a large stone wall which completely surrounds the site and dates to the medieval Islamic period . The site is over 300 acres in area , and only one small sound-ing has ever been excavated on the high mound. This was done by David Rice in 1959 , and he recovered pottery dating to the late third millennium B.C. Professor Rice ex posed a small portion of a massive mud brick structure which presum-ably dated to this period, but the area of the so unding (init i-ally 6 x 15 m.) was too limited to determine the nature o r function of the structure.

The next issue of News and Notes will have an article by the Ex pedition's Directo r, Professor Lawrence E. Stager , dealing with th e importance of Harran in its Biblical context as well as its importance for the study of ancient Near Eastern religion .

Douglas Esse Associate Directo r, The Harran Expedition

Parthian Statu e Found at HarTan

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MEMBERSHIP LECTURES

Hermann Gasche, staff archaeologist with the Belgian Ar-chaeological Expedition to Iraq will present an illustrated lecture entitled "Tell ed-Der : a Babylonian City 4000 years Ago" on Monday , April 18, at 8 p .m. in Breasted Hall. Professor Gasche was formerly with the French Mission to Susa in Iran.

G. W. Bowersock, Professor of Ancient History in the School of Historical Studies, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey , will present an illustrated lecture entitled "Roman Arabia : Arabs in the Roman Empire" on Wednesday, May 4, at 8 p.m. in Breasted Hall. Professor Bowersock is a former/Chairman of the Department of Classics a t Harvard University . .

FREE SUNDAY FILMS: APRIL AND MAY 1983

All flims are shown at 2 p.m. in Breasted Hall, The Oriental Institute .

April 3 ./ April 10

April 17 April 24 May 1 May 8 May 15 May 22 May 29

The Archaeologist and How He Works Rivers of Time Megiddo: City of Destruction Egypt: Gift of the Nile The Archaeologist and How He Works Iraq : Stairway to the Gods Iran : Landmarks in the Desert Preserving Egypt's Past Turkey : Crossroads of the Ancient World

In conjunction with the Quest for Prehistory exhibit, the flim The Archaeologist and How He Works will be shown on the first Sunday of each month through June, 1983.

The Oriental Institute The University of Chicago

MUSEUM LECTURE

Robert J. Charleston, for many years Keeper of Ceramics and Glass at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London will present an illustrated lecture "Glass in 17th Century Safavid Persia" on Monday , May 2 at 8 p.m. in Breasted Hall.

Mr. Charleston is one of the world's foremost authorities on ancient and medieval glass.

THESUQ U~r

81. Egyptian Notecards Box of six assorted cards $3.00 82. Nina Davies Notecards Designed after the 1930's paint-

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